Ultrasonic sensors can be used for distance measurement and object detection. One such application is the incorporation of ultrasonic sensors in the bumpers and fenders of cars for parking assistance, obstruction detection and adaptive cruise control.
Conventional ultrasonic sensors comprise an ultrasonic transmitter, an ultrasonic receiver and driver electronics soldered onto printed circuit boards (PCBs) and combined in modules. Other conventional sensors have a single transceiver unit that toggles between transmitting and receiving. These solutions suffer from several drawbacks, including the need to solder the components onto PCBs and increased space requirements for the combined module, among others.
Therefore, there is a need for improved ultrasonic sensors.